As is generally well known, each railcar has a handbrake which utilizes a force-producing chain being manually taken-up or let-up for setting and releasing brakes of the railcar. One of the disadvantages of using handbrakes with which the instant invention is concerned is that some handbrakes within a train consist are not being released prior to train consist movement resulting in wheel lock-ups and further resulting in wheel flats that require repair or even replacement of the entire wheel.
Prior to the conception and development of the present invention, efforts have been made to sense condition of the railcar brakes and/or the handbrake operation wherein the chain has been at least partially set or has not been released, by sensing the tension in the force-producing chain of the railroad handbrake. U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,451 issued to O'Brien, Jr. on Nov. 5, 2002, U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,722 issued to Hammond et al. on May 29, 2001, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,619 issued to Sheriff et al. on Jan. 9, 2001 teach various devices for sensing the force-producing chain being in released or “OFF” position.
However, there is a further need for a device and method that can be used for determining when the force-producing chain has been at least partially taken-up to set the railcar brakes.